Tag: great love

I talk about love, been in the love promotion business since I was a teenager, but what is love? Granted, love is many things and can be expressed and felt, imagined and contracted in so many ways, but what is love, really?

I mean, if you could aspire to find the highest and best love that could be shared between two people, that would undoubtedly be unconditional love. But what does it mean to love someone unconditionally?

I love the Jesus model of unconditional love the best, “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). It doesn’t stop there. The unconditional Jesus-style love meant he was willing to sacrifice everything for anyone, even the people who didn’t like him, refused to treat him fairly, the ones who shunned and/or rejected him, no matter what.

And when addressing the love of a couple, Paul charges men to, “love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Ephesians 5:25).

In a world where divorce is big business and relationships are pretty much disposable, this seems like quite the burden to place on anyone who is contemplating a higher degree of love. Unconditional? I love you no matter what? It just seems too impossible.

Is it like those marriage vows that go like, “love, honor, and cherish?” Okay, sounds reasonable enough. “For richer or poorer,” well, okay… for a while, maybe. I mean how long can two live on nothing? And, “in sickness and in health.” Well, exactly how sick are you talking about? We all have limits.

The degree of love you have for someone else is based upon your limitations, for unconditional love is limitless, “I love you no matter what.”

I have friends in my life whom I love unconditionally, they can ditch me, turn their back on me, pitch a hissy fit, leave me stranded at the airport, even steal from me and lie both to my face and behind my back, and I love them no matter what.

Sure, my feelings may wain and falter, but my commitment to love them is unfailing. If there’s one thing I’ve learned it’s that people, no matter how well you know them, can be unpredictable at times, and of course this catches you off guard. Even so, their underlying strength of character remains, and if they are for real, they will return, when they have the ability to do so; or not.

I work with many people in relationships who are unwilling to even contemplate the idea of unconditional love because their partner is not good enough. Maybe their eye continues to wander, looking for a better deal, someone who is better suited for him or her, so their chances are better if they push all their chips onto the table, affirming they’re ready to be all in for unconditional love.

What if you don’t think your partner is capable of loving you unconditionally?

What if you once felt like you loved your partner so much, but nowadays, you’re, “just not feeling it.” Then what?

I like what Stephen Covey says, “Love her anyway.” He insists that love is first an action, and the feeling cannot help but follow the action. So, if you want to have the feeling of being in love, love first, and the feelings will come.

Does, “I love you no matter what,” mean that I love you even if you beat me or cheat on me?

No. In life, we all make choices and should have healthy boundaries. There is no vow which suggests that you agree to allow your partner to abuse you, and you will stay, no matter what. You have the inalienable human right to life, and to live in freedom and safety.

Following self-protection, you need to decide what your conditions for love are. But think about it before you do because if your love has conditions, could your love be unconditional?

No. Unconditional love has no conditions.

Are you man or woman enough to go there? To love someone regardless of who they are, what they do, if they hurt your feelings, occasionally break promises, treat you poorly, forget some detail(s), ignore you when you could use a little acknowledgment, lose their libido, etc. Or a million other reasons why your love might waver or fade?

Might you long for unconditional love?

Do you think you want someone to love you, whom you can love unconditionally?

Unconditional love raises the bar of love incredibly high. It is not for the faint of heart, for the heart must come before the head in terms of it.

Your mind is the enemy of unconditional love and cannot conceive of the concept of loving someone unconditionally. It will do anything it can to protect you from it, for the mind’s base emotion is fear. Loving from the heart is the only hope there is of having unconditional love, which embraces the idea that,

There is the Hollywood definition of love, then there is the elevated form or love that is powerfully manifest at a higher level. If you want to aspire to loving at the next level, this higher concept of love is awaiting your arrival.

This higher level of love is one of the most powerful forces in the universe, and you are born with access to it, but being able to connect to and utilize it, is one of the best-kept secrets of all time; this is no accident. Society and the powers that be do not want you to know that you have access to such a powerful resource. You are much easier to manage and control if you can be kept unaware of such a powerful resource.

When you tap into the next level of love, you find yourself motivated and empowered to want to give and achieve more than you have ever imagined prior to tapping into love’s higher vibration.

This is the lever that opens the gates releasing the power of love into your life. In this vibrational frequency, you can see your dreams coming closer as all the best things start appearing and you feel a wide range of amazing possibilities coming your way.

Even though true love encompasses so much more than romantic love, being enveloped in love’s highest frequency, spills over into and permeating your romantic relationships allowing you to achieve new heights of romantic love, more incredible than ever possible at lower vibrations.

This new awareness of love and its power is revealed through the most intimate love you will ever know, that is the love of you for yourself. This sounds selfish, at first, but once you’ve experienced loving the only person who knows every most intimate detail of your life and will never, ever, leave you, you really don’t know what true love is. It is from this next level of love, that all other loves and their possibilities flow.

Here’s a glimpse of what you can expect when you’re loving yourself with the next level of love:

You are no longer critical of yourself. When you love yourself, you love you for who and what you are without judgment, much like the love you might have for a baby; if the baby you love messes his diaper, you think, “Bless her little heart, she made a cute little poopy.” Or if she breaks your favorite vase, you say, “You silly little thing, that was just an accident. That one was old, it was time for mommy to get a new one anyway.” When you really love yourself, you can’t do anything wrong. Certainly, life happens, and you may not always be on your best behavior or do exactly the right thing at the right time, but it’s okay. You cut yourself some slack (maybe a lot of slack) because you love yourself so much, like that baby.

Negative thoughts fade away. When you’re truly loving yourself, you don’t bother yourself with the barrage of negative vibrations. You are no longer attracted to negative news, fantastic stories of pain and suffering, horror stories, or incredulous drama. The fear of it all holds no value for you any longer. You are no longer afraid of the unknown because love is the superior power that truly conquers all else. In the state of true love, you are likely to think of ways you can change the world, rather than to be content with just complaining about it.

Fear no longer is the main vibration controlling your thoughts and your life. Powered with love you are not afraid of challenges or potential failure because you know you will always come away from any conflict or situation better than when you first encountered the circumstance.

You’re more likely to look at the bright side of things, and as you get more accustomed to this love-inspired positive outlook, positive resolutions are far more the norm than not. You will also notice, when you need a helping hand, one appears from even the most unlikely sources.

The Golden Rule, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” (Jesus’ sermon on the mount, Matthew 7:12) applies to you. You treat yourself like you would like others to treat you. You’re your own best friend. As you become more aware of your best qualities, embracing them and finding new ways to express yourself, your gifts and special abilities, others begin to see a new sheen, a glow about you which is clearly apparent as your countenance changes, empowering your new love-fueled life. You start sharing more of your love-infused self with others.

You’re finding the goodness in all things and have a heart filled full of gratitude for all life’s blessings. Even the things in life that may not have been perceived as the best, you now see from a different perspective, allowing you to see through the eyes of love, where everything is blessed and serves you in your highest and best.

You love your reflection in the mirror. The more you love yourself, the more you love your reflection in the mirror, and all that it represents a full life, and one being lived for its maximum potential. This is the reflection of someone who spreads love wherever they go.

The next level of love is unconditional love, that kind of love that says, “I love you no matter what.” It may be a far cry from where you are today, but you can feel it tugging on your heart strings. It desires to be released and reveal to you the love that was always there but never allowed to see the light of day.

There is no one else like you in the world who can do what you can do the way that you can do it. Dare to approach the next level of love and be the love that the world so desperately needs.

I’ve been loving with my whole heart long as I can remember. But just because you love someone doesn’t mean they are receiving it. That wherein lies the rub.

Loving is about as private and intimate emotion you can have, and as much as you love someone, the target of your affection may not have a clue how much you loved him or her.

If you think about that most pure moment of love when you’re holding and looking into the eyes of your newborn baby. There is no more pure moment of love’s welling up inside you at that moment. But though your baby senses your love, this little guy or gal has no clue.

Get used to this idea because you’re going to see it throughout your whole life. In most cases, it starts with your parents. If they had ANY IDEA how much you loved and adored them so much… Well, they don’t have any idea.

Then there’s your first best friend… I mean, really. Of course, you restrained yourself from using the word, “love,” as an expression of how you felt, but you know, deep inside, it was love, and he or she never knew how much he/she meant to you. Never.

And we’re just getting started.

There are your teachers; not all of them, mind you, but those few that have no idea how much they meant to you, impacted or changed your life in the most meaningful ways.

Followed by more friends, mentors, leaders, co-workers, and fringe people (I mean if could include anyone in the fringe areas of your life, like a service worker, store clerk, celebrities, or other folks) who would never know how much you love them. Even pets or other fauna or flora may never know your great love for them.

Not to mention romantic partners. At least in the romantic sense, it is considered acceptable to exchange your love openly with each other. And no matter how you try, even this person, whom you give all your love and devotion to with a reasonable expectation of a little somethin-somethin’ in return, still has no clue.

Even when empowered to share your deepest feelings of love with another, it’s nearly impossible to even come close to hint to the depth of your love, for it’s all next to impossible for anyone but you to know the expansiveness if your love.

Then there are your kids.

You love them so much. Everything they do is a miracle that brings a tear to your eye (maybe streams of sobbing love and prideful admiration) from that first step and the big potty to the Mother’s Day tea and the school play to prom and graduation and everything in between. It’s a non-stop tearful love fest, and it never stops.

There is no more amazing moment than seeing your son or daughter (or someone else that you love so much, could be the next generation of grandchildren or your friend’s accolades, or their sons and daughters doing well).

They just keep doing more things that couldn’t amaze you more, or make you more proud… They get higher education, find the love of their lives, their passion and purpose in life… and then…

They experience that resonance when they look into their own (or someone else’s) newborn’s eyes and that little guy or gal looks into their eyes with such amazement as those little fingers grasp your index finger, in that moment, the whole world stops.

And they know…

There is this incredible capacity that they have in their heart. It’s always been there, but maybe they’ve been too busy to notice it. Yet, at this one point in time and space, there is a love so unsurpassed, it could not have been imagined, until now.